He looked more cheerful than usual, and began to tell Rowena of some new books he had read in town, and which he thought might interest her. He always took the greatest interest in what she was doing, and rarely mentioned his own affairs till other topics of conversation were finished. "I suppose Mysie's in the seventh heaven of delight at having you back again?" Rowena said presently. He smiled. "I have her in my dressing-room every morning when she is dressed, to read me ten verses out of the Bible. I don't keep her long. She was reading about the centurion and our Lord. We had a talk about 'under authority' and what it means. She had some wild idea in her head that men and women when full grown were not under any authority, that no law need touch them. I fancy I made her understand a little more about that matter than she has ever done yet." "You think she is getting on with Miss Falconer?" "Excellently. I had a most interesting talk with Miss Falconer yesterday. It was raining, so she stayed to lunch; and whilst we were having coffee in the library afterwards, she spoke to me about the child's religious training. She seemed to grasp my ideas at once. I should say she was a sincere Christian woman, and I'm thankful to think the child's training is in her hands." Rowena was dumb. "She's a most interesting talker," he went on; "she quite held me spellbound. And young though she is, she seems to have had tremendous experience of life. She told me a little of her family history. I'm so glad you know her. She seems a lonely little soul, and has met with little sympathy through her life." "I have only seen her once. She is a great talker, so I learnt a lot about her different views. She was absolutely frank with me. Very broad-minded, I should say. She has dipped into many creeds." "Perhaps you did not get into such deep waters as we did. She agreed with my views entirely, and means conscientiously to train the child's spiritual part as well as her intellectual." Rowena began to feel bored. She turned the conversation into other channels. "It is none of my business," she assured herself when the visit was over. "And I'm not religious myself. She seems so adaptable that I dare say she will train Mysie in a mechanical way as he wishes her to be trained. He must discover for himself whether she is training her rightly. She is not my child, and I shan't bother my head about her." But it was one thing to say, another to act, and Rowena's mind was much exercised over Mysie's education. She thought about it day and night. "Mysie will come to loggerheads with her father sooner or later and then there will be disaster. Miss Falconer is sowing seeds of rebellion against authority in that small mind. I wonder how it will end? Surely the child herself will repeat some of her governess's speeches to her father."